Forgotten Abolitionist History of Boonton

By Peter Zablocki

Dr. John Grimes of Boonton lived as a hero to some and a villain to others. Not much is spoken of New Jersey’s role in the pre-Civil War Abolitionist Movement. History textbooks and documentaries detail the Underground Railroad and newspapers like William Lloyd Garrison’s The Liberator or Frederick Douglass’ The North Star. Yet among our nation’s turbulent narrative is a local man whose dedication to the cause gives him and his town a place in the annals of American history.

An ardent supporter of the Abolitionist Movement, Dr. Grimes, who moved to town in 1833 from nearby Parsippany, built his Liberty Hall in Boonton in 1844 to hold public meetings; among those would be ones calling out against slavery. While some evidence points to Grimes being the first president of the nationally known Anti-Slavery Society, more recent evidence suggests him being its first secretary. Still, in his quest for equality, Dr. Grimes created Boonton’s first newspapers, The Monthly Advertiser and The New Jersey Freeman, both acting as vehicles for bringing awareness to the Abolitionist Movement. Instead of local news, the papers’ main concentration dealt with the plight and hardships of African Americans and temperance and women’s suffrage in some instances.

Because of his bold and outspoken personality, particularly regarding his cause, seen by some as bringing unnecessary attention to Boonton, not all community members accepted the doctor. None of this phased him. Instead, Grimes used his home’s small printing press to publish a fiftyeight-page pamphlet [a copy of which is located in the Special Collections at Rutgers University] calling out pro-slavery activities and sentiments of some local citizens. Through his unwavering determination, Grimes secretly used his Boonton home as one of the many stations on the Underground Railroad network, which helped 40,000 enslaved people move through New Jersey to safety further north.

In his quest to help escaped slaves, Grimes also enlisted the help of many prominent Boonton residents of the time, including William G. Lathrop, Phillip Wootton, and John Hill—the former two would later have streets named after them. Dr. John Grimes, the man that gave Boonton its own little place in the history of the Abolitionist Movement, which would inspire the creation of a political party, the election of Abraham Lincoln, and the eventual abolition of slavery in 1865, died from an illness which had already caused him to lose two limbs, on September 12, 1875.